Self-loading and unloading railroad car



June 23, 1970 E. s. WRIGHT 3,516,368

SELF-LOADING AND UNLOADING RAILROAD CAR Filed sept. 27, 1967 2 sheets-sheet 1 'f lI d ,im

INVENTOR.

EDWARD S, WRIGHT M MMX ATTORNEY E. S. WRIGHT SELF-LOADING AND UNLOADING RAILROAD CAR Filed Sept. 27, 1967 June 23, 1970 TH. M mm@ MR ,m BWM N V N. R

United States Patent O 3,516,368 SELF-LOADING AND UNLOADING RAILROAD CAR Edward S. Wright, Mount Lebanon, Pa., assignor to Blaw- Knox Company, Pittsburgh, Pa., a corporation of Delaware Filed Sept. 27, 1967, Ser. No. 670,949 Int. Cl. B61d 3/ 04 U.S. Cl. S-455 4 Claims ABSTRACT 0F THE DISCLOSURE Railway apparatus and system whereby the car bodies are rotatable so as to facilitate loading and unloading.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the invention Railway rolling stock and dock facilities cooperating therewith for expediting and facilitating the unloading and loading of railway cars.

Description of prior art In accordance with the prior art of which I am aware, railway cars for handling large objects comprise a chassis having a bed thereon which is stationary with respect to the chassis. These cars are loaded singly and are then maneuvered into position to forni a train comprising a plurality of cars. The cars, for example, may be loaded at one point with automobiles and then are moved along the railroad to various points of distribution. At the points of distribution the railway cars are individually uncoupled and shifted onto sidings where they may be individually unloaded. This requires in effect that a train having a large number of cars, upon reaching one point of distribution drops oi a car which may stay there from a day to several weeks during which time the car is unloaded and then waits for reloading and/or to be picked up by another train. The loss of time in moving the car in separating it from the train and placing it in position for unloading, is substantial. In addition, when a car is left on a siding for individual unloading, the train moves on, leaving the car behind where substantially no use of the car is being made. Thus, the average car on the railroad is probably in use far less than ve percent of the time. This requires that the railroad provide at least twenty times as much rolling stock as would theoretically be required. In times of heavy use of railroads, i.e., at peak periods, this produces, in addition to excessive labor cost, a horrible waste of invested capital.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION In accordance with my invention, I provide a railway car which is capable of substantially instaneous loading and unloading and which may be readily unloaded Iwithout being disconnected from the train. More particularly, I provide a novel railway car which is capable of automatically and rapidly loading and unloading itself from the end thereof without the necessity of uncoupling the car from the train, and a system incorporating that car and including a novel unloading dock for cooperation therewith.

The invention itself is defined by the appended claims, however, value of the invention will be more readily understood from the following description when read in connection with the drawing in which:

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a plan view of a plurality of railroad cars ICC in accordance with my invention in different stages of operation.

FIG. 2 is an elevation `view of a railway car in accordance with my invention.

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary showing in elevation of the track in a car in accordance with my invention in the general region of a door.

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary end view showing partially in cross section taken along the line IV-IV of FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary showing partially cross section of a door sealing mechanism in accordance with my invention.

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary showing partially in cross section of a car body locking device in accordance with my invention.

FIG. 7 is a showing in cross section of the track on the loading dock taken along the line VII-VII of FIG. 3.

FIG. 8 is a segmental showing of a coupling between two railroad cars in accordance with my invention.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The railway car in accordance with my invention coinprises a chassis 8 having standard railway support cradle 10 and steel wheels 11. Mounted rotatably on the chassis I provide a car body 12. At the center part of the chassis 8 and midway between the ends and midway between sides of the chassis, I provide a support for rotating the car mount 14 for engagement between the chassis and the body of the car enabling rotation of the body with respect to the chassis about a vertical axis. At each end of the car I provide a groove track 16 on the underside of the car body near the ends of the car for engaging roller support bearings 18 which are attached to the chassis 8 of the car for support of the car body. The support track 16 is curved and the radius of the curvature is equal to the distance between the center of the rotating junction or joint and the center of the supporting track. Attached to the body 12 of the car on the underside of the body disposed opposite the supporting rollers in the chassis is a track 16 for engaging the rollers so as to support the body thereon. Disposed approximately midway between the center rotating support joint 14 and the end support tracks 16, I provide a curved rack gear 20 on the underside of the body of the car cooperating with a cog Wheel 22 which rotates about a vertical axis and is attached to the chassis of the car and is rotated by an electric motor. The curved rack gear and cog wheel operating together serve to cause and control the rotation of the body of the car about a vertical axis. The car is designed for rotation at an angle of about twenty degrees and stops are provided for preventing the car from being rotated beyond this amount. Thus the cog wheel 22 remains constantly in contact with the curved rack gear 20 so that the car may be readily moved back to the closed position.

At each end of the body 12 of the car on the right side of the body when facing that end I provide a support wheel 24 for supporting the load as the car is rotated and which extends down below the body 12 of the car to a distance of approximately six inches above the rails on which the chassis rides. The support Wheels are oriented for movement in a direction perpendicular to the long dimension of the car. The purpose of the support wheels 24 is to prevent the car from tipping when the body of the car is turned at an angle to the axis of the car. In accordance with one embodiment of my invention, the support wheels 24 can be xed or may be supported by a telescopic arm comprising a cylinder and piston actuating device for raising and lowering the Wheels so that they may be moved out of position when not in use and moved back into position when they are likely to be needed.

The body of the car comprises a floor 26, sidewalls 28, a roof 30 and end doors 32 which end doors are hinged at the bottom thereof so that they may be lowered down to form an unloading platform. The top of each hinged end door is attached to a cable 34 which in turn is controlled by a reel and a rrrotor 36 in the roof 30 of the car for raising and lowering the door 32. Alternatively, if watertight modules are preferred, the car superstructure can be open frame type rather than the closed type as shown in FIG. 2.

On a closed type car, attached to the roof of the body of the car, I provide a sealing device 38 for sealing the top of the door in a substantially airtight seal. The sealing device 38 comprises a rotating device having a plurality of paddles extending therefrom. Two of the sealing paddles are so oriented so that when the door is in a closed position, one of the paddles rests against and touches either side of the door. One of the paddles touching the door has a sealing piece on it of rubber or some other material for contact 'with the doors to provide a tight seal. Another of the paddles on the sealing device 38 makes contact with a stationary gasket on the roof of the car so as to provide a seal between the sealing device 38 and the roof 30 of the car. Attached to another paddle on the said sealing device 38 is a spring which biases said sealing device so as to keep it tight against said door 32. In addition, I provide a door opening device 41 comprising a springloaded piston 42 for moving the door outward which comprises a precompressed door opener spring rwith a piston rod attached thereto providing preferably two hundred pounds pressure when the door is in a closed position and seventy-five pounds pressure at end of the six-inch or greater travel of the piston rod. The door opener 42 is fastened to the car wall and preferably one door opener is provided on each side of the car.

As shown in FIG. 6, I provide a car locking device locking the body of the car into aligned position with the chassis of the car. The locking device comprises a shaft or lever arm 44 anchored rotatably about a horizontal axis to the wall of the body of the car and having attached thereto distant from said anchor point a vertically extending locking shaft 46 which extends through sleeves mounted on the side of the body of the car and a sleeve mounted on the side of the chassis of the car so as to hold the body and the chassis into a stationary condition relative to each other. A gravity latch is provided near the top of the swing path of the arm for locking the arm of the lever in an open condition 'when the car is being rotated. On the unloading side the lever arm is operated by manual manipulation thereof. On the opposite side of the car from that on which the lever arm is located, i.e., on the side opposite the unloading side, I provide another lever arm both of which arms are keyed to a shaft extending horizontally through the car frame so that the lever on the opposite side of the car from the unloading side, upon being rotated, will also activate the locking shaft.

Inside of the body of the car I provide a plurality of modules 50 or containers for holding goods to be transported in the car. These modules 50 are of box-like configuration and substantially conforming in their external dimensions to the interior dimensions of the car body. The modules 50 are mounted on wheels 52 which ride on two parallel tracks S4 on the floor of the body of the car and extending along the length of the car. The end doors of the car are provided with tracks thereon which are located on the doors in such a manner as to be aligned with the tracks on the bottom or oor of the car body so that when the doors are in an open or lowered position, the tracks on the doors form a bearing surface for the rollers of the modules. Since the opening and closing of the doors requires a discontinuity in the tracks 54 near the reg-ion of the door hinges, I, therefore, provide a filler 56 as shown in FIG. 3 which ller 56 drops into position when the door is lowered so as to provide a continuous section of track. The track rfiller 56 is hinged to the track on the oor of the body of the car and is sloped so that it is automatically moved out of position by the door as the door is raised.

Since the modules are riding on wheels which rest on rails within the body of the car, they would be readily susceptible to a tipping action. I, therefore, provide extensions of the axles of the wheels on the modules which cooperate with a module wheel retaining ledge which comprises an angle iron extending parallel to the track on which the modules move and being anchored to the floor of the car and extending upward and over so as to engage the top of the axle of the modules to prevent the axle of the module from rising from its contact position with the rail.

In the normal action of my device the wheels under the module should be aligned so as to move axially along the track inside of the car. However, it is recognized that when the module has been moved from the body of the car and onto the loading platform, it may be desirable to move the module in obtuse and varied directions. I, therefore, provide a removable bolt locking arrangement whereby a locking bolt 58 extends through the housing 60 around the wheel support pintle 62 and through a hole in the wheel support pintle 62 so as to prevent rotation of the pintle within the housing. The locking bolt is fastened to one end of a pivoted anchor lever, the other end of which pivoted anchor lever is fastened to a rod extending to the end of the module so that it may be easily activated by an operator.

In accordance with the system of my invention, I provide a dock of generally zigzag configuration for cooperation with the above described cars. Thus the dock is periodically indented at an angle of approximately 20 so that when the body of the car is rotated a distance of 20 with respect to the chassis of the car, the end of the body of the car will be ush against and parallel to an edge of the dock while the side of the car from a point near the center of the car to the end of the car is flush against the sidewall of the dock. The dock is equipped with rails which, when the car is in place, match up with the rails in the body of the car so that the modules can be easily moved from the car out onto the dock. Preferably the rails on the rock are movable in a direction laterally or perpendicular to their length so that the rails on the dock may be easily moved to exactly fit and engage with the rails on the car door which door when in a lowered position acts as a loading or unloading ramp.

I provide a loading and unloading winch 53 which comprises a motor and drum interconnected through a friction or torque responsive automatic disconnect clutch. Attached to the winch 53 is a chain 55 with a hook on the end thereof for attachment to a car. For unloading or loading the chain is attached to the rear end of a module, the rear end depending on the direction of desired travel and the module is caused to travel by retracting the chain on the winch. Also, in accordance with one embodiment of my invention, lI provide a pulley attached to the body of the car at the end opposite where the Winch is located and a pulley on the end of the door so as to more positively pull the modules to the desired location.

I provide a safety system which comprises a pair of locking pins with a cable 57 therebetween which pins fit into holes in the end of the bodies of adjacent car bodies. This cable 57 with its accompanying pins anchors the two adjacent railroad car bodies together so that if there should be a failure in the other locking mechanisms then this cable alone would prevent a car body from swinging out too far. In accordance with a preferred embodiment of my invention I provide microswitches on the locking devices which are in turn connected thru the safety cables 57 so that a single light in the cabin of the engine would indicate that all safety devices on the entire train are in place. Further in accordance with another embodiment of my invention I connect the electrical safety circuit with the brake release in the cabin of the engine so that the brake release cannot be operated until all safety locks are secured.

In accordance with the system of my invention, railway cars are loaded with large items such as self-propelled vehicles or else the goods are loaded into modules 50 for the purpose of speed of loading and unloading. Preferably the modules 50 are cartons with wheels on them. However, in accordance with one embodiment of my invention the modules may be merely large rugged containers which are slid along the rails on the floor of the car without the necessity of providing wheels therefor. Since the coeicient of friction is relatively small between steel rails and a steel bottom of a crate, it would be relatively simple to slide large crates directly into the cars. As the train travels along, it comes to the first station where it is desired to unload one of the cars. With my self-loading-unloading system it is not necessary that the train have been loaded so that the last car in the train is the first one to drop off but instead the goods for the first station may be on any one of the cars in the train. When the cars and the train pull into the rst station, the car with goods for that station is rotated against a loading platform and then the unloading winch attached to the floor of the car is actuated so as to cause the goods to move out of the car. Or in the alternative, the goods are pulled out of the car by a traveling winch or a tractor on the loading dock. Or alternatively, if the goods are in the form of self-propelled vehicles, the vehicle itself merely is driven out of the car. In the case of modules having |wheels on the bottom thereof they may be moved by the car and then allowed to coast on out of the car onto the loading platform and in the natural coasting from the car they would move sufficient distance to clear the car. If by any chance they did not move sui'licient distance to clear the car door, your coecient of friction retarding them is so small that it would be quite easy for any operator to push the car a few feet further by hand without the necessity of having any specialized equipment on the dock for removing the car or the module. In the case of modules which do not have wheels on the bottom but are merely large boxes or crates having preferably a metallic bottom surface so as to reduce the coefiicient of friction, it would be desirable to have an external source of power such as a tractor on the loading dock for pulling the cartons out of the railway car onto the dock. When the desired materials have been unloaded from the car, the car door is then raised back up to the upright position to where it engages the car sealing device in the roof of the car, the car is then rotated back into position by the action of the rotating cog wheel and cog rail underneath of the body of the car. When the car is finally in position and the body is aligned again with the chassis, the latching lock is actuated, and the body is locked so that it cannot rotate accidentally with respect to the chassis of the car. The stabilizing Wheels are now in a position where they will generally not interfere with the forward motion of the car. However, in accordance with one embodiment of my invention, I provide means for rotating those wheels at 90 so as to make them parallel to the tracks on which the railway car is riding so as to lessen the chance of those wheels from being an encumbrance on the motion of the railway car, or, alternatively, that the wheels be retractable.

The car is now ready for movement to the next location or `station along with the train of loaded cars. Thus, in roughly a matter of tive minutes time I have provided for the complete unloading of a car and the train is now ready to proceed. None of the cars have been left behind to sit idle for days until they are picked up by another train but instead the train as such remains intact. The train now being partially loaded and partially unloaded is ready to readily and quickly and easily receive additional goods at any station along the route. Thus we find a system which is quite similar to a United States Mail letter carrier who moves along from house to house leaving such mail at each house as are directed to it and picking up such mail from each house as are ready for shipment. The train thus can continue to make a general large area circuit picking up and delivering all along the route until it returns back to its point of origin. It will be noted, also, that in accordance with my system, trans-shipment becomes simplified. A train pulling into a central point, such as Chicago, and having goods thereon for a plurality of other directions does not need to leave the railway cars behind but instead it can pull into the loading docks and in less than fifteen minutes time have the entire train unloaded onto the docks and the train itself continues on its way. Whereas, another train passing through will pick up various components from the docks which are destined for points along its route.

It will be further noted that there is no reason for cars belonging to one railroad to be used on another railroad and, therefore, the present involved accounting system would be grossly simplified.

It will be noted that I have provided springs 41 around the interior of the body of the car for preventing shifting of the load which can be damaging both to the car and to the goods being shipped.

I claim as my invention:

'1. A self loading and unloading modularized railroad freight car comprising:

(A) a chassis including a pair of supporting trucks and having at least one pair of spaced apart arcuate guideways;

(B) a rotatable body pivotally mounted on said chassis and adapted for engagement within said arcuate guideways, said body including (i) a deck extending the length thereof with at least one set of tracks,

(ii) two sidewalls, each having at least one linear guideway the length thereof,

(iii) two endwalls, at least one of which is movable into the plane of the deck and includes thereon a second set of tracks coextensive with the tracks of the deck;

(C) means for locking and moving the movable end- Wall into place;

(D) means for rotating said body;

(E) a plurality of modular containers, each including (i) a set of wheels adapted for engagement with and movement along the deck tracks and adapted for cooperation with the linear guideways, and

(ii) means for connecting one module with another, each module being of a size whereby an integral number thereof `substantially ll the entirety of said body.

2. A modularized railroad freight car as set forth in claim 1 wherein said rotatable body includes a pair of oppositely mounted retractable supports adapted for engagement with the ground when said body has been rotated about the chassis.

3. A modularized railroad freight car as set forth in claim 1 wherein the body of said car also includes a roof having a seal between it and the `sides and endwalls to provide a water tight unit.

4. A modularized railroad freight car as set in claim 1 and having in combination therewith at least one loading dock conforming to the configuration of and adapted to receive the body of said car when rotated about 20 from the center of the chassis, said dock having at least 7 one set of tracks coextensive with the tracks of the end- 3,086,669 Wall when the endwall is the plane of the deck. 3,143,979 3,149,583 References Cited 3,168,207 UNITED STATES PATENTS 5 3201087 312,556 2/1885 Cutter 105-455 2,546,507 3/1951 Holmes 105-455 2,994,159 8/1961 `Borlijie 10S-455 Rogers 105-455 Eckersall 10S-455 Morrill 10S-455 Washington 105-455 Goby 105-455 ARTHUR L. LA POINT, Primary Examiner R. A. BERTSCH, Assistant Examiner UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CERTIFICATE 0F CORRECTION Patent No 3 516 368 June 23 1970 Edward S Wright It is certified that error appears in the above identified patent and that said Letters Patent are hereby corrected as shown below:

Column 6, line 71, after "set insert forth Column 8, line 4, "3,168,207" should read 3,168,206

Signed and sealed this 23rd day of February 1971.

(SEAL) Attest:

Edward M. Fletcher, Ir. WILLIAM E.

Attesting Officer Commissioner of Patents 

